Wrestling Falls to Penn, Princeton at Home

Feb 06, 2010

The Bears dropped a pair of home matches on Saturday afternoon,
falling 21-15 against Princeton, followed by a 35-6 loss to a
powerful Penn squad. Senior Branden Stearns led the way for
Brown, notching a pair of wins, including one over #20 Micah Burak
of Penn.

The Princeton match began at 285, where senior Larry Otsuka took
an exciting 5-3 decision over the Tigers Bobby Grogan.
Princeton then rolled off five consecutive victories, however,
opening up a 15-3 lead. The highlight of the run was an
overtime bout at 157, where senior Bryan Tracy narrowly fell in a
9-7 decision.

At 165, sophomore Jeff Lemmer took a big win to get Brown back
on track. Lemmer turned in a dominating performance against
Andy Lowy of the Tigers, earning a win by fall in just 3:36.
That was followed by Brown wins at both 184 and 197 by seniors Bran
Crudden and Stearns, but it wasn't enough to overcome the early
Princeton lead, and the Tigers held on for a 21-15 win.

In the first match of the day, perennial powerhouse Penn rolled
over the Bears, winning the first seven events to jump out to a
32-0 lead en route to a 35-6 final win. Senior Greg Einfrank
opened the match at 125, dropping a 13-4 major decision to Mark
Rappo, followed by a quick fall from Mike Piccirillo in 51 seconds.

After a Brown forfeit at 141, rookie Phil Marano wrestled an
impressive match against ninth-ranked Cesar Grajales at 149.
Marano was behind just 2-1 entering the third period, but was
unable to consistently score against the Quaker, eventually falling
5-2. At 157, the Bears again held close, but #15 Mat Dragon
knocked off freshman Gabe Brotzman with a 7-4 decision.

The next two weight classes again saw ranked Quakers take
victories, Jeffrey Lemmer lost a 13-2 major decision at 165,
followed by a fall by freshman Marcos Aranda at 174. Senior
Bran Crudden snapped the skid for Brown at 184 though, taking an
impressive 6-1 decision over Cory Beaver. Classmate Branden
Stearns then followed with the highlight of the match for Brown,
pulling an upset over nationally-ranked Micah Burak at 197.
Stearns took a 7-4 decision in an exciting, back-and-forth match,
picking up a big win for the Bears. The action then wrapped
up with a 3-1 Penn decision at 285, for a 35-6 Quaker win.

The Bears will be back in action next weekend, when they
conclude their seven-match homestand by hosting Harvard at 12:00
p.m. and Lehigh at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 13.